The present invention relates to respiration aids, particularly for use by patients suffering from the disease known as Sleep Apnea and snoring. Sleep Apnea, which manifests itself by intensive snoring during sleep, is a biological disorder in the respiratory channels, in particular the upper air passages which tend to collapse and become blocked towards the end of every exhalation cycle. In order to overcome and avoid suffocation, the patient must exert an effort to continue the breathing process, i.e. the inhalation phase, which effort entails his actual awaking. Patients are thus driven into a serious mental and physical condition, due to accumulated lack of sleep; although the patients seem to be asleep, actually they are not deriving the benefits of slumber, not to mention the inconvenience caused to people in proximity.
In the course of medical research, it has been found that great relief is attained if, by some external means, the patient's lungs (and, of course, the upper bronchial passages included) be kept under a constant, slightly elevated air pressure, in the order of 5-15 CmH20 above the ambient, "atmospheric" pressure.
Experimental apparatus devised for the application of this kind of treatment included a vented nose-mask and snorkel, through which an excessive quantity of air was supplied to the patient (in the order of 100 lit/min while normal human air consumption during sleep is about 6 lit/min).
This method assured that both the inhalation and the exhalation took place under practically the same, elevated pressure, as required. However, it has been proved that the supply to the patient's mask of such extremely high quantities of air had caused him great inconvenience, expressed, inter alia, by extensive cooling and/or drying-up of his nose and other breathing passages.
It has been already proposed to overcome this inherent deficiency of the conventional systems--cf. Israel Patent Application No. 82300; however the apparatus therein disclosed still required the installation of an electric motor to drive the indispensable compressor.
It is therefore the prime object of the present invention to provide a respiration device for the purpose in question which is self-contained, i.e. without the provision of an electrically powered air compressor.